Ebe's Pride
by Kelar
Summary: This is a short story based around the Galactic Pod Racing Circuit from Episode 1. With Pod Racer Ebe Endocott as the hero!


Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. Star Wars and all related characters, locations, businesses etc. are owned by Lucasfilm, Lucasarts and/or their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended, no money has or ever will change hands!

**A Long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away...**

In the times before The Empire, back when the Republic was still the ruling body of the Galaxy, the Galactic Podracing Circuit provided hours of entertainment to it's inhabitants far and wide.   
Out of the podracers who made up the Galactic Podracing Circuit, one name stood out from the crowds. Holder of the coveted title of Galactic Champion Podracer, that name was Sebulba!   
Adored by fans galaxy wide because of his seeming inability to lose, Sebulba was indeed a foe to be reckoned with, however his position of champion was not to last forever. During a famous race at the Boonta Eve Classic on Tatooine, Sebulba lost his title - and his pod - to a young human boy called Anakin Skywalker!   
After the Boonta Eve Classic, Skywalker retired from the podracing circuit, and Sebulba was forced to to take time out due to the lack of a pod, leaving the title of Galactic Champion Podracer open to one and all!   
The competition was fierce, but one plucky podracer by the name of Ebe Endocott prevailed over all, and took the title for himself.   
It has now been a year since Sebulba's defeat at Boonta Eve, and Ebe has held the title for most of that time. But now, it is time for the highly prestigious, winner-takes-all tournament on the planet of Ando Prime. Not only will _all _the galaxies best podracers be in attendance but, for Ebe especially, this race presents an even greater challenge... After one year, it is time for Sebulba to return to the fold...

* * *

"No, not there, that repulsor pad goes on the left!" Galactic Champion Podracer Ebe Endocott rolled his eyes and sighed, as one of his little pit droids made yet another mistake in the maintenance of his prized podracer.   
"Oh, I need a drink!" He said, rubbing the sweat from his brow. It was only one hour until the race, and he was starting to get edgy. Any more mistakes, and Ebe knew he could end up carrying his pod home in a bag!   
"That's enough maintenance for now boys," Ebe called to his pit droids, who were busy pottering around the pod, "I'll be back in half an hour."   
And with that, Ebe stepped out of the hangar and made his way to the cantina, which was just across the way from the hangar, leaving the droids to their own devices.

On entering the cantina, Ebe immediately noticed that most of its patrons were crowded around Sebulba, intently listening to tales of his podracing victories, all of them hanging on his every word. In contrast, all of the other podracers were seated as far away from Sebulba as they possibly could be while still remaining inside the cantina!   
"What can I get you?" The bartenders voice came into Ebe's thoughts.   
"Oh, er, juri juice please." Ebe replied, fumbling in his pocket to find his money.   
"That'll be two drugets please!" The bartender replied, placing Ebe's juri juice on the bar. Ebe passed over his money and took his drink. Turning around, he scanned the cantina for a place to sit. All of the familiar podracers were there: Gasgano, Ben Quadinaros, Boles Roor, Mars Guo, Mawhonic, Ark "Bumpy" Roose, Neva Kee and many more. Ebe settled on the one racer with whom he got on with the most - _off _of the tracks of course - Teemto Pagalies.   
Settling down in the seat opposite Teemto, he and Ebe, began discussing things - everything from the weather on Ando Prime today, to the upcoming race.   
But, all too soon, the half an hour of social time was over and Ebe, Teemto and all the other racers began making their ways back to their assigned hangars, to complete routine maintenance on their pods, indulge any pre race rituals they might have, and get their pods out onto the starting line, ready for the host to signify the beginning of the race!

The starting line was filled with the humming and revving of of all the pods, as the pilots sat in anticipation of the green light. The arena was alive with the cheers and shouts of all the fans who had turned out today, for this monumental race.   
Up in the announcers box, sat the familiar two headed figure of the Troig announcers, Fode and Beed, who had been the Galactic Podracing circuits commentators for as long as anyone could remember.   
"Welcome, one and all, to Ando Prime, the home of the benevolent Andobi Bindu Monks," Said Fode, his voice echoing around the entire area, "Your host, as always, the wisest of the wise - Ten Abu Domba!"   
A cheer went up in praise as the tall, four armed monk, waved to the crowd!   
"Well, it's a lovely day here on Ando Prime today, snowing, but lovely!" Said Beed in Huttese, for the benefit of those who didn't understand basic. "It couldn't be a better day for the annual race around the Ando Prime Centrum. A no-holds-barred, winner-takes-all, extravaganza of a race!"   
"And it looks like Ten Abu Domba is about to signal the start of the race!" Added Fode.   
Sure enough, up on the head of one of the Andobi Bindu Monk's religious statues stood Ten Abu Domba, his hand in the air, ready to drop at any second to signal the beginning of the race.   
Focusing his mind on the starting lights, mentally shutting off all other sound, Ebe gripped his steering yokes tightly, ready to hit the throttle as soon as the lights turned green.

Red.... 3...

Orange... 2...

Yellow... 1...

Green... GO...

With a simultaneous roar, louder than a herd of hungry Rancor, the pods all pulled away from the starting line at top speed. They were off!   
It didn't take long for the first corner to hit. Pulling hard over to the right, Ebe eased his pod gracefully round the bend. Someone behind him, Ebe heard, wasn't so lucky as the sound of twisted metal and angry curses filled the air!   
One opponent out of the race, Ebe thought. Ten more to go!

Up ahead of him loomed the notorious ice caves. Here, a racer had a choice; left or right. Either choice posed a significant threat, so Ebe didn't think about it, he just let his racers reflexes take over. Shifting his steering yokes to the left, he entered the cave.   
The ice caves were twisting, turning natural formations that even the most skilled podracer couldn't get through without a small scrape, at the very least.   
Concentrating fiercely on the track ahead, Ebe pulled hard left, then right, then left again, nicking the edge of his right side pod on the icy wall that last turn. Cursing under his breath, he gave his damage meter a quick glimpse. Nothing serious.   
Giving his air brakes a quick blast as he came to the end of the ice caves, he leveled himself off, and passed under the entry arch into the Centrum. Sebulba was just ahead of him now, Ebe noticed, and there was no-way in Ebe's mind that Sebulba was just going walk back into the circuit after a year and steal the Galactic Champion Podracer title out from under him. Checking that there were no obstacles in his way, Ebe hit his boost button and gave his pod a burst of concentrated speed. He managed to narrow the distance between himself and Sebulba significantly before he had to hit his air brakes and slow down. Now they were in the Centrum.

The Centrum consisted of a large, round center piece in the center of the tracks, surrounded by four different directions a podracer could take.   
Ebe opted for the upper segment of the track, pulling over to the right as he entered the Centrum, and gliding effortlessly up the right side ramp.   
Unfortunately, the upper segment was the segment Sebulba had chosen too.   
Shifting his pod into a hard right turn at the top of the ramp, Ebe entered the center tunnel, almost colliding with Sebulba as he did so. Shrugging off Sebulba's rude outburst, Ebe concentrated on the tunnel ahead of him. The center tunnel was probably the most difficult section of the track, twisting and turning as it did. Only this was no natural formation, this was narrow, sculpted rock!   
Ebe, pulled back on his steering yokes, pushing hard right as he did. His pod was virtually flying on the side of the wall as he eased his way through the tunnels, not once letting his mind wander from the task at hand as to do so would be fatal!   
Ebe took a long, deep breath as his pod blasted out of the tunnel and into fresh air again. Behind him, there was a loud explosion as one unfortunate racer apparently let his mind wander from the task at hand. Indeed, a fatal mistake! Ebe decided to take one of the two lower track routes on the next lap...

Ebe didn't have time to relax, however, as the final segment of the circuit was coming up ahead.   
Pulling hard left, Ebe turned into the suburban area of the Ando Prime Centrum. Cheers and applause could be heard emanating from all of the citizens hanging out of their windows and sitting on their balconies as the precession of pods whizzed by.   
Negotiating the streets of Ando Prime Centrum was no easy task. But then, Ebe thought to himself, it was no easy task negotiating _any _part of Ando Prime Centrum! At least finding his way around the huge entertainment dome at the end of the suburban area was relatively simple, Ebe decided.

As Ebe cleared the suburban streets and began his run up to the entertainment dome, he risked a quick look at his position monitor and, to his mild annoyance, found himself still 2nd to Sebulba.   
Hitting his boost button, Ebe cleared the entertainment dome with total ease and, pulling hard left, he entered the final stretch.   
The final stretch consisted of a length of straight track, followed by a sharp bend to the left, and finally a 30 foot drop back down to the starting line. Ebe eased his way around these final obstacles with the skill of a veteran podracer - which he was - only sustaining mild damage to his pods as he hit the floor after the 30 foot drop. Nothing his auto-repair system couldn't handle in the blink of a Bantha's eye!

Speeding over the starting line, Ebe entered the second lap.

The second lap was fairly uneventful, for Ebe at least. A couple more unfortunate podracers 'bowed out' of the race at certain points, and at the 30 foot drop, Ebe remembered this time to pull back on his steering yokes rather than leaving them where they were, thereby allowing his repulsors to gain extra boost and radically limit the damage to his pods!   
Sebulba was only a few yards in front of Ebe now, and Ebe was determined that that wasn't going to last long. Roaring over the starting line just seconds after the wily Dug, Ebe entered the third, and final, lap of the race.

The third lap - for the most part - was as uneventful as the second. Ebe and Sebulba were almost neck-a-neck the whole way and Ebe couldn't even see any of the other competitors as he took the risk of looking behind him on one of the straights.   
It was at the the entertainment dome, however, that the uneventful third lap suddenly became very eventful!   
As the two competitors rounded the dome, Ebe finally pulled up along side Sebulba. The two were now racing side by side, and it was then that Sebulba decided to resort to his old ways. Out of what looked like an innocent little air intake valve on Sebulba's right pod came a sudden, concentrated jet of fire which quickly engulfed Ebe's left pod. His damage meter lit up, beeping like a wounded Mynock as it warned him of an engine fire. Swearing, Ebe engaged his auto-repair system to douse the fire, causing him to drop behind Sebulba once again.   
Filled with rage at his cheating opponent, Ebe was even more determined to win now than ever before, even if it meant risking his own pod in the process!   
Coming into the final stretch, Ebe hit his boost button, despite the fact that to do so with a sharp turn coming up was _very _ill-advised. Screeching around the corner, he saw Sebulba heading quickly towards the 30 foot drop. Pushing forward on his steering yokes as hard as he could, Ebe squeezed as much speed as was physically possible out of his already exhausted pods and came along side Sebulba just as he reached the drop. Together, the pods launched off of the edge with an ear piercing howl, and making sure not to give Sebulba a chance to use his flame emitters again, Ebe struck first this time.   
Giving his steering yokes a sharp twist to the left, Ebe collided with Sebulba in mid-air, a dangerous maneuver if ever there was one. But this time around, it paid off. Shouting all the curses he could muster, Sebulba and his pod veered off to the left, hitting the floor with a shuddering crash and flying apart as it did so, leaving the route to to the finishing line clear for Ebe's victory!   
Blasting over the finishing line, Ebe lifted up his arms and gave a loud victory cheer. He had won!   
"We have a winner, ladies, gentlemen and aliens," Fode boomed over the loudspeaker. "Winner, still holder of the title of Galactic Champion Podracer, and the new record holder for the Ando Prime Centrum circuit, Ebe Endocott!"   
"Well done Ebe!" Beed added.   
The arena was filled with the deafening cheers and applause of the elated audience as Ebe slowed to a stop in the pits. Pulling himself out of his cockpit as all the remaining racers began pulling in behind him, Ebe smiled widely. He'd proven to himself, and to the Galaxy, that even against the greatest odds a person could go up against, he was the best!

He was Ebe Endocott, the fastest and best Galactic Champion Podracer of all time!

The End.   
  



End file.
